Recently it was proposed that asymptotically flat spacetimes have a holographic dual which is an ultra-relativistic conformal field theory. In this paper, we obtain the conformal anomaly for such a theory via the flat-space holography technique. Furthermore, using flat-space holography we obtain a C-function for this theory which is monotonically decreasing from the UV to the IR by employing the null energy condition in the bulk.
We advance a construction for the balanced partial entanglement entropy (BPE) for bipartite mixed states in a class of $(1+1)$-dimensional Galilean conformal field theories dual to Einstein gravity and topologically massive gravity in asymptotically flat spacetimes. We compare our results with the entanglement wedge cross section (EWCS) in the dual geometries and find exact agreement. Furthermore, utilizing a geometric picture, we demonstrate the holographic duality between the EWCS and the BPE in the context of flat holography.
We present the construction of BMS$_3$ blocks in a two-dimensional field theory and compare the results with holographic computations involving probe particles propagating in flat space cosmologies. On the field theory side, we generalize the monodromy method used in the context of AdS/CFT to theories with BMS symmetry. On the bulk side we consider geodesic Feynman diagrams, recently introduced in [arXiv:1712.07131], evaluated in locally flat geometries generated by backreaction of heavy BMS primary operators. We comment on the implications of these results for the eigenstate thermalization hy…
We prove the flat space analogue of the Flato-Fronsdal theorem. It features the flat space singleton representation suggested recently. We do that by deriving a kernel that intertwines a pair of singleton representations with massless higher-spin fields in flat space. Next, we derive two-point functions of flat space singletons, which are then used to construct two- and three-point scattering amplitudes in the dual theory of massless higher-spin fields. These amplitudes agree with amplitudes in the chiral higher-spin theory.
We obtain the reflected entropy for bipartite states in a class of $(1+1)$-dimensional Galilean conformal field theories ($GCFT_{1+1}$) through a replica technique. Furthermore we compare our results with the entanglement wedge cross section (EWCS) obtained for the dual (2+1) dimensional asymptotically flat geometries in the context of flat holography. We find that our results are consistent with the duality between the reflected entropy and the bulk EWCS for flat holographic scenarios.
We compute the leading corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the Flat Space Cosmological (FSC) solutions in 3D flat spacetimes, which are the flat analogues of the BTZ black holes in AdS3. The analysis is done by a computation of density of states in the dual 2D Galilean Conformal Field Theory and the answer obtained by this matches with the limiting value of the expected result for the BTZ inner horizon entropy as well as what is expected for a generic thermodynamic system. Along the way, we also develop other aspects of holography of 3D flat spacetimes.
We propose a quasi-local stress tensor for the four-dimensional asymptotically flat Robinson-Trautman geometries by taking the flat-space limit from the corresponding asymptotically AdS solutions. This stress tensor results in the correct charges of the generators of BMS symmetry if we define conformal infinity by an anisotropic scaling of the metric components. Using flat-space holography this stress tensor is related to expectation values of the stress tensor in a dual field theory called BMS-invariant field theory (BMSFT). We also calculate the two and three point functions of the proposed …
We extend the reflected entropy to the bipartite state in a two dimensional Galilean conformal field theory ($GCFT_2$) which is dual to the asymptotically flat spacetime described by the generalized minimal massive gravity (GMMG). To this end we consider the Renyi entanglement entropy formula that can be related to the reflected entropy by some manipulations of the replica technique. In a limited case, we find the reflected entropy is twice the minimal entanglement wedge cross section (EWCS) and this is an evidence on the relation between the reflected entropy and the EWCS in the flat holograp…
We point out that aspects of quantum mechanics can be derived from the holographic principle, using only a perturbative limit of classical general relativity. In flat space, the covariant entropy bound reduces to the Bekenstein bound. The latter does not contain Newton's constant and cannot operate via gravitational backreaction. Instead, it is protected by - and in this sense, predicts - the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
We establish a construction for the entanglement wedge in asymptotically flat bulk geometries for subsystems in dual $(1+1)$-dimensional Galilean conformal field theories in the context of flat space holography. In this connection we propose a definition for the bulk entanglement wedge cross section for bipartite states of such dual non relativistic conformal field theories. Utilizing our construction for the entanglement wedge cross section we compute the entanglement negativity for such bipartite states through the generalization of an earlier proposal, in the context of the usual $AdS/CFT$ …
The odd entanglement entropy (OEE) for bipartite states in a class of $(1+1)$-dimensional Galilean conformal field theories ($GCFT_{1+1}$) is obtained through an appropriate replica technique. In this context our results are compared with the entanglement wedge cross section (EWCS) for $(2+1)$-dimensional asymptotically flat geometries dual to the $GCFT_{1+1}$ in the framework of flat holography. We find that our results are consistent with the duality of the difference between the odd entanglement entropy and the entanglement entropy of bipartite states, with the bulk EWCS for flat holographi…
We study the chiral flat space higher-spin algebra, which is the global symmetry algebra of the chiral higher-spin theory in the 4d Minkowski space. We find that it can be constructed as the universal enveloping algebra of a certain chiral deformation of the Poincare algebra quotiented by a set of quadratic identities. These identities allow us to identify a representation of the latter algebra, which by analogy with the AdS space higher-spin holography, we interpret as the flat space singleton representation. We provide two explicit realisations of this singleton representation -- in terms of…
We propose an explicit realization of flat space holography in two dimensions where both sides of the duality are independently defined and the boundary theory is completely solvable. In the bulk, we define a novel $\mathcal{N}=1$ flat space supergravity theory and exactly compute the full topological expansion of its Euclidean partition function with an arbitrary number of boundaries. On the boundary, we consider a double scaled Hermitian random matrix model with Gaussian potential and use the loop equations to show it independently reproduces the bulk partition function to all orders in the …
BMS symmetry, which is the asymptotic symmetry at null infinity of flat spacetime, is an important input for flat holography. In this paper, we give a holographic calculation of entanglement entropy and Rényi entropy in three dimensional Einstein gravity and Topologically Massive Gravity. The geometric picture for the entanglement entropy is the length of a spacelike geodesic which is connected to the interval at null infinity by two null geodesics. The spacelike geodesic is the fixed points of replica symmetry, and the null geodesics are along the modular flow. Our strategy is to first reform…
We use the correspondence between three-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes and two-dimensional contracted conformal field theories (CCFTs) to derive the stress tensor correlators of CCFT$_2$. On the gravity side we use the metric formulation instead of the Chern-Simons formulation of three-dimensional gravity. This method can also be used for four-dimensional case where there is no Chern-Simons formulation for the bulk theory.
We study several aspects of holographic entanglement in two models known as flat$_3$/BMSFT and (W)AdS$_3$/WCFT. These are two examples of holography beyond AdS/CFT where the the boundary field theories are not Lorentz invariant but still feature an infinite set of local symmetries. In the first example, BMS-invariant field theories (BMSFTs) are conjectured to provide a holographic description of quantum gravity in asymptotically flat three-dimensional spacetimes; while in the second example, warped conformal field theories (WCFTs) are proposed to describe quantum gravity in warped AdS$_3$ or A…
In this paper, we study codimension two holography in flat spacetimes, based on the idea of the wedge holography. We propose that a region in a $d+1$ dimensional flat spacetime surrounded by two end of the world-branes, which are given by $d$ dimensional hyperbolic spaces, is dual to a conformal field theory (CFT) on a $d-1$ dimensional sphere. Similarly, we also propose that a $d+1$ dimensional region in the flat spacetime bounded by two $d$ dimensional de Sitter spaces is holographically dual to a CFT on a $d-1$ dimensional sphere. Our calculations of the partition function, holographic enta…
We provide a first derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of 3d flat cosmological horizons in terms of the counting of states in a dual field theory. These horizons appear in the shifted-boost orbifold of R^{1,2}, the flat limit of non-extremal rotating BTZ black holes. These 3d geometries carry non-zero charges under the asymptotic symmetry algebra of R^{1,2}, the 3d Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS3) algebra. The dual theory has the symmetries of the 2d Galilean Conformal Algebra, a contraction of two copies of the Virasoro algebra, which is isomorphic to BMS3. We study flat holography as a li…
Recently, Klemm and others [hep-th/0104141] have successfully generalized the Cardy-Verlinde formula for an asymptotically flat spacetime of arbitrary dimensionality. And yet, from a holographic perspective, the interpretation of this formula remains somewhat unclear. Nevertheless, in this paper, we incorporate the implied flat space/CFT duality into a study on boundary descriptions of a $d$-dimensional Schwarzschild-black hole spacetime. In particular, we demonstrate that the (presumably) dual CFT adopts a string-like description and, moreover, is thermodynamically equivalent to a string that…
We propose a stress tensor for the Kerr black hole written in the Boyer-Lindquist coordinate. To achieve this, we use the dictionary of the Flat/CCFT correspondence and take the flat-space limit from the quasi-local stress tensor of the four-dimensional Kerr-AdS black hole. The proposed stress tensor yields the correct values for the mass and angular momentum of the Kerr black hole at spatial infinity. We also calculate some components of the energy momentum tensor of the three dimensional CCFT and show that they are consistent with the holographic calculation of the Kerr black hole. The calcu…
Matrix theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence provide nonperturbative holographic formulations of string theory. In both cases the finite N theories can be thought of as infrared regulated versions of flat space string theory in which removing the cutoff is equivalent to letting N go to infinity. In this paper we consider the nature of this limit. In both cases the holographic mapping becomes completely nonlocal. In matrix theory this corresponds to the growth of D0-brane bound states with N. For the AdS/CFT correspondence there is a similar delocalization of the holographic image of a system a…
We present an interacting spin-2 gauge theory coupled to the two-dimensional dilaton-gravity in flat spacetime. The asymptotic symmetry group is enhanced to the central extension of Diff$(S^1)\ltimes C^\infty(S^1)\ltimes$Vec($S^1$) when the central element of the Heisenberg subgroup is zero (vanishing $U(1)$ level). Using the BF-formulation of the model we derive the corresponding boundary coadjoint action which is the spin-2 extension of the warped Schwarzian theory at vanishing $U(1)$ level. We also discuss the thermodynamics of black holes in this model.
We study chaos in non-Lorentzian field theories, specifically Galilean and Carrollian conformal field theories in two dimensions. In a large central charge limit, we find that the Lyapunov exponent saturates the bound on chaos, conjectured originally for relativistic field theories. We recover the same Lyapunov exponent holographically by a shock-wave calculation in three-dimensional flat space cosmologies, providing further evidence for flat space holography.
We advance holographic constructions for the entanglement negativity of bipartite states in a class of $(1+1)-$dimensional Galilean conformal field theories dual to asymptotically flat three dimensional bulk geometries described by Einstein Gravity and Topologically Massive Gravity. The construction involves specific algebraic sums of the lengths of bulk extremal curves homologous to certain combinations of the intervals appropriate to such bipartite states. Our analysis exactly reproduces the corresponding replica technique results in the large central charge limit. We substantiate our constr…
We calculate the free energy from the on-shell action for topologically massive gravity with negative and vanishing cosmological constant, thereby providing a first principles derivation of the free energy of Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black holes and flat space cosmologies. We summarize related recent checks of flat space holography.
Recently a general prescription for determining the vacuum modular flow generator and the corresponding modular Hamiltonian in the BMS-invariant field theories (BMSFTs) have provided by Apolo et. al \cite{Apolo}. According to this paper Einstein gravity in asymptotically flat three-dimensional spacetimes is dual to a BMSFT. In the present paper we extend this study to the generalized minimal massive gravity model (GMMG). So we study some aspects of $Flat_3/BMSFT$ holography in the framework of this model. We derive the modular Hamiltonian for single intervals in thermal and non-thermal BMSFTs …
In this article we study the algebra generated by the holographically reconstructed cubic couplings for the type A minimal bosonic higher-spin theory on AdS$_{d+1}$, which were recently extracted from the free scalar $O(N)$ model. We demonstrate that it is equal to the unique higher-spin algebra for bosonic totally symmetric higher-spin fields in generic dimensions. This provides an explicit check of the holographic reconstruction and of the duality between higher-spin theories and the free $O(N)$ model in general dimensions, extending the result of Giombi and Yin in AdS$_4$. For completeness,…
A flat band can be studied an infinitely strong coupling, realized in a simple system. Therefore, its holographic realization should be interesting. Laia and Tong gave a realization of the flat band over the entire momentum region by introducing a particular boundary term. Here, we give a model with a flat band over a finite region of momentum space using a bulk interaction term instead of the boundary term. We find that the spectrum of our model is precisely analogous to that of the ABC stacked multilayer graphene. In the presence of the chemical potential, the flat band is bent in our hologr…
Four-dimensional (4D) flat Minkowski space admits a foliation by hyperbolic slices. Euclidean AdS3 slices fill the past and future lightcones of the origin, while dS3 slices fill the region outside the lightcone. The resulting link between 4D asymptotically flat quantum gravity and AdS3/CFT2 is explored in this paper. The 4D superrotations in the extended BMS4 group are found to act as the familiar conformal transformations on the 3D hyperbolic slices, mapping each slice to itself. The associated 4D superrotation charge is constructed in the covariant phase space formalism. The soft part gives…
According to flat/Bondi-Metzner-Sachs invariant field theories (BMSFT) correspondence, asymptotically flat spacetimes in $(d+1)$-dimensions are dual to $d$-dimensional BMSFTs. In this duality, similar to the Ryu-Takayanagi proposal in the AdS/CFT correspondence, the entanglement entropy of subsystems in the field theory side is given by the area of some particular surfaces in the gravity side. In this paper we find the holographic counterpart of the first law of entanglement entropy (FLEE) in a two-dimensional BMSFT. We show that FLEE for the BMSFT perturbed states which are descried by three-…
We consider a free topological model in 5D euclidean flat spacetime, built from two rank-2 tensor fields. Despite the fact that the bulk of the model does not have any particular physical interpretation, on its 4D planar edge nontrivial gauge field theories are recovered, whose features are entirely determined by the gauge and discrete symmetries of the bulk. In particular no 4D dynamics can be obtained without imposing a Time Reversal invariance in the bulk. Remarkably, one of the two possible edge models selected by the Time Reversal symmetries displays a true electromagnetic duality, which …
In this thesis I explore the generality of the holographic principle in 2+1 (bulk) dimensions by looking at the possibility of having holographic correspondences for non-AdS (higher-spin) spacetimes. The first part focuses on Lobachevsky spacetimes with $\mathfrak{sl}(4,\mathbb{R})$ as well as $\mathcal{W}^{(2)}_N$ symmetries, the asymptotic symmetry algebras and their unitary representations. This results in a family of unitary $\mathcal{W}^{(2)}_N$ models that can have both small and large central charge. The focus of the second part is a possible holographic correspondence in asymptotically…
Recent attempts at the construction of holography for asymptotically flat spacetimes have taken two different routes. Celestial holography, involving a two dimensional (2d) CFT dual to 4d Minkowski spacetime, has generated novel results in asymptotic symmetry and scattering amplitudes. A different formulation, using Carrollian CFTs, has been principally used to provide some evidence for flat holography in lower dimensions. Understanding of flatspace scattering has been lacking in the Carroll framework. In this work, using ideas from Celestial holography, we show that 3d Carrollian CFTs living …
We present the exact solution for the scattering problem in the flat space Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity coupled to an arbitrary quantum field theory. JT gravity results in a gravitational dressing of field theoretical scattering amplitudes. The exact expression for the dressed $S$-matrix was previously known as a solvable example of a novel UV asymptotic behavior, dubbed asymptotic fragility. This dressing is equivalent to the $T\bar{T}$ deformation of the initial quantum field theory. JT gravity coupled to a single massless boson provides a promising action formulation for an integrable app…
We review recent progress in the study of S-folds in light of the gauge/gravity duality and the AdS swampland conjecture. S-folds correspond to non-geometric backgrounds of type IIB supergravity of the form $\,\textrm{AdS}_4 \, \times \, \textrm{S}^1 \, \times \, \mathcal{M}\,$ that involve a non-trivial $\,\textrm{SL}(2,\,\mathbb{Z})\,$ (S-duality) monodromy for the type IIB fields when moving around the $\,\textrm{S}^1$. We present four such solutions with $\,\mathcal{M}=\textrm{S}^{5}\,$ that preserve $\,\mathcal{N}=4,2,1,0\,$ supersymmetries. Via the AdS/CFT correspondence, these solutions…
We present the analytical calculation of entanglement entropy for a class of two dimensional field theories governed by the symmetries of the Galilean conformal algebra, thus providing a rare example of such an exact computation. These field theories are the putative holographic duals to theories of gravity in three-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes. We provide a check of our field theory answers by an analysis of geodesics. We also exploit the Chern-Simons formulation of three-dimensional gravity and adapt recent proposals of calculating entanglement entropy by Wilson lines in this c…
Assuming the existence of a field theory in D dimensions dual to (D+1)-dimensional flat space, governed by the asymptotic symmetries of flat space, we make some preliminary remarks about the properties of this field theory. We review briefly some successes of the 3d bulk - 2d boundary case and then focus on the 4d bulk - 3d boundary example, where the symmetry in question is the infinite dimensional BMS4 algebra. We look at the constraints imposed by this symmetry on a 3d field theory by constructing highest weight representations of this algebra. We construct two and three point functions of …
In this paper we perform the Hamiltonian reduction of the action for three-dimensional Einstein gravity with vanishing cosmological constant using the Chern-Simons formulation and Bondi-van der Burg-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) boundary conditions. An equivalent formulation of the boundary action is the geometric action on BMS$_3$ coadjoint orbits, where the orbit representative is identified as the bulk holonomy. We use this reduced action to compute one-loop contributions to the torus partition function of all BMS$_3$ descendants of Minkowski spacetime and cosmological solutions in flat space. We the…
We study the asymptotically flat rotating hairy black hole solution of a three-dimensional gravity theory which is given by taking the flat-space limit (zero cosmological constant limit) of new massive gravity. We propose that the dual field theory of the flat-space limit of new massive gravity can be described by a contracted conformal field theory which is invariant under the action of the BMS$_{3}$ group. Using the flat/contracted conformal field theory correspondence, we construct a stress tensor which yields the conserved charges of the asymptotically flat black hole solution. We check th…
We show that a holographic description of four-dimensional asymptotically locally flat spacetimes is reached smoothly from the zero-cosmological-constant limit of anti-de Sitter holography. To this end, we use the derivative expansion of fluid/gravity correspondence. From the boundary perspective, the vanishing of the bulk cosmological constant appears as the zero velocity of light limit. This sets how Carrollian geometry emerges in flat holography. The new boundary data are a two-dimensional spatial surface, identified with the null infinity of the bulk Ricci-flat spacetime, accompanied with …
We argue that any non-gravitational holographic dual to asymptotically flat string theory in $d$-dimensions naturally resides at spacelike infinity. Since spacelike infinity can be resovled as a $(d-1)$-dimensional timelike hyperboloid (i.e., as a copy of de Sitter space in $(d-1)$ dimensions), the dual theory is defined on a Lorentz signature spacetime. Conceptual issues regarding such a duality are clarified by comparison with linear dilaton boundary conditions, such as those dual to little string theory. We compute both time-ordered and Wightman boundary 2-point functions of operators dual …
We propose a holographic duality for a four dimensional WZW model with target manifold $\mathrm{SO}(8)$, coupled to scalar-flat Kähler gravity on an asymptotically flat, four dimensional background known as the Burns metric. The holographic dual is a two dimensional chiral algebra built out of gauged beta-gamma systems with $\mathrm{SO}(8)$ flavor. We test the duality by matching two-point correlators of soft gluon currents with two-point gluon amplitudes, and their leading OPE coefficients with collinear limits of three-point gluon amplitudes.
We propose a holographic correspondence of the flat spacetime based on the behavior of the entanglement entropy and the correlation functions. The holographic dual theory turns out to be highly non-local. We argue that after most part of the space is traced out, the reduced density matrix gives the maximal entropy and the correlation functions become trivial. We present a toy model for this holographic dual using a non-local scalar field theory that reproduces the same property of the entanglement entropy. Our conjecture is consistent with the entropy of Schwarzschild black holes in asymptotic…
We provide the first steps towards a flat space holographic correspondence in two bulk spacetime dimensions. The gravity side is described by a conformally transformed version of the matterless Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger model. The field theory side follows from the complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model in the limit of large specific heat and vanishing compressibility. We derive the boundary action analogous to the Schwarzian as the key link between gravity and field theory sides and show that it coincides with a geometric action discovered recently by one of us, see 1908.08089.
We explore the holographic principle in the context of asymptotically flat space-times by means of the asymptotic symmetry group of this class of space-times, the so called Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) group. In particular we construct a (free) field theory living at future (or past) null infinity invariant under the action of the BMS group. Eventually we analyse the quantum aspects of this theory and we explore how to relate the correlation functions in the boundary and in the bulk.
We introduce a prescription to compute the entanglement entropy of Galilean conformal field theories by combining gravitational anomalies and an İnönü-Wigner contraction. We find that our expression for the entanglement entropy in the thermal limit reproduces the Cardy formula for Galilean conformal field theories. Using this proposal, we calculate the entanglement entropy for a class of Galilean conformal field theories, which are believed to be dual to three-dimensional flat-space cosmological solutions. These geometries describe expanding (contracting) universes and can be viewed as the fla…
